BackgroundIn temperate regions, influenza epidemics occur in the winter and correlate with certain climatological parameters. In African tropical regions, the effects of climatological parameters on influenza epidemics are not well defined. This study aims to identify and model the effects of climatological parameters on seasonal influenza activity in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.MethodsWe studied the effects of weekly rainfall, humidity, and temperature on laboratory-confirmed influenza cases in Abidjan from 2007 to 2010. We used the Box-Jenkins method with the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) process to create models using data from 2007–2010 and to assess the predictive value of best model on data from 2011 to 2012.ResultsThe weekly number of influenza cases showed significant cross-correlation with certain prior weeks for both rainfall, and relative humidity. The best fitting multivariate model (ARIMAX (2,0,0) _RF) included the number of influenza cases during 1-week and 2-weeks prior, and the rainfall during the current week and 5-weeks prior. The performance of this model showed an increase of >3 % for Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and 2.5 % for Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) compared to the reference univariate ARIMA (2,0,0). The prediction of the weekly number of influenza cases during 2011–2012 with the best fitting multivariate model (ARIMAX (2,0,0) _RF), showed that the observed values were within the 95 % confidence interval of the predicted values during 97 of 104 weeks.ConclusionIncluding rainfall increases the performances of fitted and predicted models. The timing of influenza in Abidjan can be partially explained by rainfall influence, in a setting with little change in temperature throughout the year. These findings can help clinicians to anticipate influenza cases during the rainy season by implementing preventive measures.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3503-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An entomological survey of Aedes mosquitoes was initiated at the container terminal of the Autonomous Port of Abidjan in 2009 following the occurrence of two outbreaks of yellow fever in less than 10 years and dengue cases reported in 2008 among expatriates returning from Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). It was based on regular monitoring of ovitraps from July 2009 to June 2010. A total of 4,739 adult mosquitoes represented by four species of Aedes (97% of total) and one unexpected species of Culex (3%) were obtained. Aedes aegypti was dominant with 98% of total Aedes (n = 4,594). Its density variation was closely related to the amount of rainfall. The other species of Aedes were collected in the second half of the major rainy season including Ae. albopictus (1.17% of Aedes) and Ae. angustus (0.13%) whose presence was discovered for the first time in Côte d’Ivoire.

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In April 2008, Abidjan was again faced with another case of yellow fever after the epidemic of 2001 causing mass immunization campaign. In order to evaluate the extent of amaril virus circulation and the risk for local people, an entomological investigation was carried out by the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Côte d'Ivoire. At "Entent" area of Treichville, Breteau index was estimated at 34, recipient index at 20 % and house index at 25 %. Those indexes were respectively 53, 21 and 31 % at "Vridi canal" of Port Bouet. In the both neighborhood, Aedes aegypti accounted for more than 80 % of mosquitoes caught and more than 90 % of mosquitoes adults obtained from larval breeding. This new situation of epidemic risk could be explained by several factors including the reception of 70 % of forced migration people caused by the crisis in the country occurred in 2002, the probable drop of preventive immunization, the environment deterioration creating of more breeding sites of Ae. aegypti. Résumé

Dengue has become a major public health concern in Cote d'Ivoire since 2010. In malaria endemic countries, such as Cote d'Ivoire, healthcare workers often confuse dengue with other tropical fevers, such as malaria. However, to control dengue fever, healthcare workers must be knowledgeable about this disease. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 healthcare workers' knowledge, attitude, and practices in relation to dengue from 3 rd September, 2014 to 20 th March, 2015 in Abidjan and its suburbs. Logistic analyses with stepwise selection were performed to explain the relationship between the dependent variable (practices) and the main explicative variable (knowledge). The distribution of participant healthcare workers by health facility showed that 55% worked in reference health facilities. Among the 340 participants, 70 (21%) had a good knowledge of dengue fever, while 71 (21%) had good diagnostic practices. The logistical analysis with stepwise selection showed that practices were explained by knowledge (adjusted OR (aOR) = 2.69; p = 0.004), gender (aOR = 1.88; p = 0.036), occupation (aOR = 0.37; p = 0.003) and epidemic risk perception (aOR = 2.59; p = 0.001). The study shows that nurses had better practices in term of dengue diagnosis compared with medical doctors. Similarly, healthcare workers who had good knowledge of dengue fever also had good practices. However, there is a great need for healthcare workers to be trained on how to detect dengue disease.